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Socialist Review No. 10

Ganja and the system

Ganja is big business, that we knew all along, what is perhaps new to
most is the fact that plane load of the stuff was being collected here
on an almost daily basis! Hardly a week goes by without the discovery
of some plane, awaiting its load. This is now said to be the chief
avenue where guns enter the country. Not so long ago, an air strip was
discovered in the middle of thick forestry! The novelty of the
situation makes it pregnant with all kind of meaning.

There is at the moment a loud whisper throughout the island, that
fortunes have been made by "respectable" people involved in
transporting ganja to America. In a way we can new say that by recent
events, everything about ganja, be it smoking, or selling have been
made respectable. Not so long ago it was the popular belief that ganja
was the occupation of the ghetto people. Those who were caught received
harsh sentences, some who became addictive lost their mind it was
degrading and essentially a ghetto problem. Not so anymore!

People often express shock when otherwise well regarded people, are
caught doing shady things. This to some extent is a natural human
reaction, but it should not last if we understand our social system.
What a person own in our world, is the basis on how he is judged,
possession counts for everything. In a society like this people
generally, will do anything to achieve these symbols of prestige. Its
all a great show on the surface, while the pressure rises below. This
pressure is more on these "respectable people", if a chance presents
itself of easy gain dont think for a minute they wont take it. This is
life under capitalism, anything goes!

Consider again ganja, (marijuana) medical reports have been coming out
that it should not be regarded as harmless. It is said to reduce the
body's ability to fight disease. It is also said to affect the
reproductive organs. We all know here that people who cant afford to
feed themselves go mad from a prolong use. Despite all these things the
demand for it is constantly rising. Cigarette smoking is even more
condemned by medical reports, but also, its consumption continue to
rocket up. Ask yourself, why should people knowingly do harm to
themselves? Could it be that the majority of us loath the way we live,
cant see any way out, and develop what is called a death wish? The
world is a stage as is said, but the players soon get tired of their
part. It is our system of society and its values that people reflect,
which drives us to self destruction.

The fact that ganja trafficking on this large scale have been
discovered, wont put an end to it. The reward is too great to be
resisted. It is not the people who engage in this that we should
condemn, its this horrible system of life that give people the need for
such a thing. Jamintel.

Where do you stand?

An election that in part, is meant to settle the issue of which party
is strongest, seem to do no such thing these days, if we listen to the
Prime Minister, and the leader of the opposition, about the council
elections held some time ago. One can only conclude that politicans
have the great ability to make defeat look like victory. This would be
a marvellous quality if we were talking about salesmen, but perhaps the
two are more alike than most people think. Both the Prime Minister, and
the opposition leader, really have nothing to celebrate. Neither of
them mention the very low poll, this is even more glaring when we
remember that for the first time eighteen year olds could vote.

Yes, the cries of crisis continue, and the real crisis of peoples
lives, the fantastic increase in the cost of daily
necessities,(estimated at 30% since this year) the shortages of these
things, which itself creates a black market, should all add up to make
people pause for a moment. Added to this is the fact that we have a
massive unemployment problem, and no government assistance for these
people. It really dred jah.

The important thing about all this is for us not to forget the lessons
of this experience, (people get used to anything, after a time, the bad
times soon become good) It was just over two years ago that the present
government, then campaigning for office was painting a rosy picture of
"better must come", surely what is happening now is not what they
meant? Granting that this was not their intention, it is obvious that
there are powerful forces outside their control that influence our
lives. We could say that these forces affect us more than anything the
government can do. Yes, it is important to remember from the days of
promise, in the last general elections, to the present crisis situation
to fully understand the lesson.

What shall be your reaction to politicans, and their talk in a few
years from now? And if you do reject their utterances for the
meaningless trash, for what it is, what shall be your approach to the
problems of society? Will you simply give up trying and resign yourself
to anything capitalist society dishes out? This of course is the easy
way, and consequently very popular. Some, having gone through the
humiliation of capitalist society, become racist, and see the solution
to the problems of life by the destruction of another race. Needless to
say, both these reactions wont be a threat to structure of society, and
in fact serve to hide the real enemy, the real cause of the bitter
problems that faces the working class. To desire anything less than the
abolition of the present system, from production for profit, to
production for use is to desire nothing. Not higher wages, but away
with the wage system. Not employment for all, but an end to employment
as the means to participate in the fruits of production. This is the
only change that can have any rewarding effect for the mass of people
around the world today.

This crisis situation that we all face on the economic front, is also a
crisis of decision. One makes the other all the more important. The
pressure is on, and as things get hotter you must decide, either to
accept anything this rotten system throws at you, or take up the
challenge of the socialist alternative to change our way life to
something better. Get involve, take a stand for a better world, today.Billo. Law and the lawless

The fatal shooting of two prominent citizens have stunned the
government into action to combat the indiscriminate use of the gun. A
gun court law has been rushed through parliament, a site for the court,
and those convicted, developed. All in almost two weeks. What haste? We
are sad about these people, but we would also like to ask, how many
small shop keeper, factory worker have been robbed, and gunned down,
without even public outcry. People have had to flee their homes, impose
their own rigid curfew, deny themselves many small pleasures, because
of the level of fear reached in society. Yet as one looked on it was as
if it was never happening here. No one paid any attention as long as
the terror stayed in the ghetto. Society have been touched, and now
they are out for revenge.

Although there are some protest, there is a general feeling of approval
about the new measures. The impression is given that people almost feel
that crime will almost vanish. This of course is what we all wish, but
it just wont happen. To fully understand the cause of crime, you must
first understand something about the society we live in. We must
identify the values our society project. We live in a world where
possession count for everything, Consider the position of the large
army of unemployed young men (in our society the pressure is mostly on
the male) and even those who work, they accept the values that society
have preached to them. However, by their very low economic position,
they have little or no chance of ever enjoying "the good things of
life". This is the breeding ground for crime, violent or otherwise. THE
CAUSE IS ROOTED IN OUR SOCIAL SYSTEM. It can be suppressed, the figures
might even go down, but it cant be eliminated as long as we maintain
our present social structure. Notice how in the countries often
referred to as rich, crime is still a serious social problem. It is so
because the values are the same.

Of late there have been rumours of crime in high places. The
transporting of ganja, by plane to America, is said to be the work of
top people. It wont help any to come out and start yelling why our
betters wont set us good examples. They too are trapped by the system.
It is also wrong to think that greed and selfishness are responsible
for the evils of society. The dog eat dog jungle of today's chaotic
world breeds greed and selfishness. This applies to every level of
society. A man's behaviour is based on the environment he lives in,
capitalist society creates the environment that breeds crime, what we
need is a system that would make crime a useless, irrelevant act. This
is just what socialism will do. You can go on supporting, or opposing
different laws, but unless you come to accept the socialist alternative
nothing will be achieved. The condition in the world is ideal for
socialism, only for people to get turned on to the idea of a socialist
society, it is they who have sentenced themselves to this corrupt
system.

Percy.

AFTER HALF A CENTURY OF THEM WHERE IS THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM?

Reforms

Editorial Note: The following article is taken from FULCRUM, the
official publication of the Socialist Party of Canada. It deals with a
subject that should be of great interest to us here in Jamaica.
Everyone who has access to the medias, seem to think that we can reform
our system to make it better for all. Is reform the answer? This
article answers this question.

Socialist are often accused of being opposed to reforms, social
legislation ostensibly designed to ameliorate some more or less
intolerable situation - Medicare, Social Security, etc.

However, to the contrary, the World Socialist Parties are not opposed
to reforms per se, any more than they ADVOCATE them. Socialist do not
support or agitate for reforms precisely on the grounds upon which they
are ostensibly presented, for they do NOT CURE the ills to which they
are addressed. We contend further that the interest of the ruling
powers lies in attracting votes for their various political programs.
Witness the reforms, or promises, offered by the politicoes in an
election year. They are a necessary policy of governments seeking a
broader base of support in their efforts to maintain a sufficient
degree of viability in the capitalist system: to keep order in a social
system whose nature is to engender disorder: to maintain an unstable
equilibrium in a system continually facing crisis. And in time of great
stress the offering of reforms to a restless and dissatisfied populace,
helps to provide a "breathing spell" to a badly harassed government.

The Roosevelt reforms of the New Deal, immediately following the "GREAT
DEPRESSION" were instituted not only as a sop to the enraged
dispossessed, but to rebuild and reinforce a sagging business economy
and fractured financial structure. They succeeded only to a very
limited degree. As a worried mother tries to appease a howling infant
by placing a pacifier in the child's mouth and sometimes sweetens it by
coating it with syrup - so these reforms were offered with promises to
do away with "fear" that of the dispossessed and of those also who own
and control.

But they did nothing whatever to help resolve the basic contradictions
in the economic system. The gap between the "haves" and the "have nots"
remained and even widened, and the economy was "saved" only by the
outbreak of war. This war basis has continued throughout the ensuing
"peace" years.

Consider also two outstanding reforms of the past few years. The
"Alianza par Progreso" and the War on Poverty. The former is now dying
of inanition, and the latter never succeeded in getting off the ground.

The Alliance for Progress was undertaken to underwrite the "Good
neighbour policy", to fasten Latin America to the chariot of United
States imperialism, so that the countries to be "helped" might become
suppliers of raw materials, and sources of capital accumulation, The
denizens of the slums of Peru, Guatemala, Brazil, etc., still wallow in
their unrelieved poverty, and any great protest on their part is taken
care of by dictatorial rulers, aided and abetted by the C.I.A. and the
Green Berets. Meantime here at home the increasing poverty and
hopelessness of the ghettos of all our large cities gives the lie to
the "Great Society" and its "War on Poverty". And that great reform
which one writer says "is daintily referred to as Urban Renewal" does
not even begin to touch the fringe of the problem. Capitalism here
produced the ghetto with its overcrowded and frustrated inhabitants,
yet capitalism cannot reform it. It may however, destroy it, for the
intro­duction of more sophisticated weaponry and a National Guard
specially trained in "riot control" is now suggested as the answer, an
increasingly voiced response to the chaos and disorders of the moment.
This now seems to be the only response of the selfish egotism of a
ruling clique.

A half a century of reforms, which do not reform, leaves this society
more affluent in the upper levels and more poverty stricken in the
lower. The fewer rich become richer and the increasing many poorer.
Despite growth in the Gross National Product, despite an apparent rise
in the general standard of living for some, the gap remains and widens.

While contending that Capitalism cannot be genuinely reformed in the
interest of the whole of the society, Socialists contend also that it
be superseded by a better, higher, social order. It is to this end that
of changing the world that Socialists direct their efforts.

It once was asked of this writer at a public meeting: "How would you
socialists suggest, right now, organising production"? The reply is
simple enough - "Production is already organised" There is no problem
in that area.There is no anarchy in production today: Anarchy appears
when the products reach the market. So production, socialist insist
will be carried on as it is now BUT WITH THE OTHER FELLOW, THE
CAPITALIST OWNER OUT OF THE PICTURE. But there being no problem in
production only in distribution these important

(l) Distribution of goods and services instead of exchange: thus "use"
instead of "profit".
(2)Administration of THINGS instead of Government over people.
(3)A complete social body: not one divided into Rulers and Ruled.
(4)An entire economy administered democratically in the interest of the
entire community.

In closing permit this observation: Any socialist with a correct
reading of Marx and knowledge gained from his own reasearches into
history knows that societies have passed through various periods, with
different social formulations, but ever possessing rulers and ruled,
until today man faces another "Eternal Order", capitalism. This present
order, despite its cruelties and oppressions represented social advance
and in its early stages compared to its antecedents, was "liberal" and
"progressive". It is no more "Eternal" than Feudalism, Chattel Slavery.
Capitalism's increasing and continual crises indicate its time of
dissolution: as it was with previous social orders: "Where wealth
accumulates and man decay".

Growing affluence above among the few, abysmal poverty below the lot of
the many. Chaos abounds and confusion reigns. Crime in the streets and
warfare abroad. These and one thousand and one other distressing items
are featured daily in the news media and presently exercise more and
more minds in the populace. The politicans cry "Reform, Law and Order",
and the pity is that so many are thereby fooled.

The socialist contention that capitalism cannot be reformed in the
interest of the majority, but it can be abolished is reinforced in the
language of history. A study of history teaches that no society ever
set itself the task of dealing with any situation or problem without
that society having first developed the necessary and sufficient
conditions in process of emergence. Nor can any society be dissolved
and replaced by a higher one until it has developed all those forces
requisite for its replacement. These forces are now abundantly evident.

A high technological perfection is seen in modern society - automation,
which does not come about automatically (it is often restrained because
of the influence of various vested interest.)

It also can be seen how the productive apparatus is capable of
producing more than a sufficiency for all. The age long problem facing
man -PRODUCTION - has been solved. Poverty, chaos, war, and social
strife can de eliminated by doing away vith the root cause of these
horrors. This is socialism's objective: To abolish capitalism, not
vainly attempt to reform it. Think, think, and think again and THINKING
ARIGHT join in this great, and only meaningful task.Bill Pritchard.

Race or class?

The racial issue in our present time have been described as the most
crucial in the world today. This view have been expressed by leaders in
government, to the man in the street. To these people there will be
some massive explosion sometime in the future, with the races lined up
against each other.

As socialist we do not see the racial issue as the major problem in the
world. We see the world divided into those who possess the means of
production, the capitalist class, and those who seek work in order to
live, the working class. It is because of this class division in
society that give rise to racism in the first place. When capitalism
goes through one of its frequent bad period, some of the workers of the
dominant race usually blame their condition, on some other race.
Observe how racial feeling run high in Britain during a period of high
unemployment. It serve as an easy excuse for people who look around and
can see nothing in their frustrating existance.

Let us take a look at the situation here in Jamaica. People are always
saying that the white people come here and own everything. In just the
same way that the black man stand out in Britain, so does the white man
here, and so is the reaction to both. And it is important to say here
that almost all the white people in Jamaica are in fact working class
people, just like West Indians in Britain. What cause the confusion la
that the whites here are in a position to demand higher wages, because
of their skill. That engineer that flashes by in that big car is no
capitalist, he is really a worker in a high income group. HE IS A
MEMBER OF THE WORKING CLASS BECAUSE HE DEPEND ON HIS WAGE IN ORDER TO
LIVE.

Nationalism, which serve as encouragement to racism, is preached from
the highest level in society. They tell us that we should love our
country. They also say that Jamaicanisation of industry is one of their
main priority. It is strange how sometimes people talk about Jamaica as
their country, when it fact they own so very little of it. And why
should workers support the Jamaicanisation effort, when all it really
means is that the Jamaican Capitalist class, can now own the investment
ventures once owned by "foreigners". It wont make any difference
to a single workers life if this goal of Jamaicanisation is realised!
Capitalism is a system of exploitation, humiliation, and degradation
for the working class. These features wont go away because the people
who administer the system are "your own kith and kin".

Look around the world and observe, how in some countries, racism is
actively supported by governments. South Africa, and Rhodesia are the
chief example, it is also done in parts of black Africa. Racism only
serve to divide and confuse the working class and lead them away from
the important question of how they produce the wealth of the world, and
share so little of it. It is our position as working class people that
we should consider, and throw away the idea of race. In the words of
our declaration of principles "the emancipation of the working class
will involve the emancipation of all mankind without distinction of
race or sex."Dexter.

Early comment

Oscar Wilde is reputed to have once said, "when the gods wish to punish
us they grant us our wish". Now that the government have acquired the
J.O.S., a thing the "progressive" people have been clamering for ever
so long, they must now be very happy. What we would like is in what way
this "blessing" of state ownership will affect the workers. Will our
transport system be more efficient, will they employ more workers, will
the workers be more courteous, will they get an immediate pay rise, and
most important will buses be put anywhere that people want, not
considering its profitability? We are being very conceited in asking
questions that we already know the answer. If you dont have the
answers, we are sorry but we wont tell, but keep an eye on this state
enterprise, you will soon find out for yourself.